alt Hacker NewsR and Python are both obvious replacements for data processing, and having the data itself appear in read-write columns of an Excel file is and has always been ludicrous.
Excel was for a time when programming meant more arcane languages. In 2026, there is no excuse for a business major not to know Python or R. They're both easy.
Replies
dist-epoch • yesterday at 9:27 PM
I don't think you understand what Excel is and what it does.
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bix6 • yesterday at 9:17 PM
So your suggestion is replace excel with python and R? So when I send someone a spreadsheet instead I send them… a python script?
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They are not nearly as easy as Excel, even for people who know those other languages well.